10 Internet Rabbit Holes That’ll Leave You Unsettled

VanishedVoyage

10 Internet Rabbit Holes That’ll Leave You Unsettled    #DisturbingInternetRabbitHoles #CreepyWebStories #DarkWebDive #DigitalHorror #UnsettlingOnlineTales

Transcript

00:001-800-GOLF-TIP

00:01Back in the early 90s, a mysterious phone number started popping up on billboards and

00:06newspaper ads across North America. It was a vanity number that spelled out 1-800-GOLF-TIP.

00:13Seeing this, most people assumed that it was an innocent golf tips helpline or something of the

00:17sort. However, that couldn't have been further from the truth. When someone did call the number,

00:23they were greeted by the sound of a person breathing into his microphone. This was then

00:27quickly followed by the same person counting off numbers 1-10 in an Indian or Middle Eastern

00:33accent over and over again.

00:48This sequence kept repeating for minutes on end, leaving many people confused and prompting

00:53them to hang up. However, this counting didn't last forever. People discovered that after

01:00about 10-12 minutes, the voice faded into silence and was replaced by static noise.

01:15But that wasn't all. Because the ones who kept on listening were eventually startled by a loud

01:20and unsettling siren sound.

01:39Not only was this extremely creepy, it also left the listener with many unanswered questions,

01:45like what was the purpose of the strange counting? And why would anyone pay money to advertise this

01:50number in the first place? Over the next few years, the 1-800-Golf-Tip number became a modern

01:55folktale of sorts. People heard about it through word of mouth, dialed in out of curiosity, and were

02:01all met with the same eerie voice. This phenomenon was widespread enough to become one of the earliest

02:06internet rabbit holes, as I found mentions of the number dating as far back as 2003. However,

02:11the complete lack of information gave rise to a flood of theories attempting to explain the mystery,

02:16including one which speculated if 1-800-Golf-Tip had something to do with number stations,

02:21which, for those who don't know, are shortwave radio broadcasts of unknown origin.

02:26These usually transmit sequences of spoken numbers, tones, or coded messages, often in eerie mechanical

02:32voices. Many believe they're used by governments to send encrypted instructions to spies in the

02:49field. So, according to this theory, the 1-800-Golf-Tip number served a similar purpose.

02:55Another theory that many came up with was that this number was a part of a marketing campaign,

02:59probably to gather working phone numbers for telemarketing later or as a social experiment

03:04to generate hype for an upcoming product. However, none of these theories hold up to

03:08scrutiny. For starters, if number stations are indeed used to transmit instructions to spies,

03:14their entire purpose is to deliver messages anonymously, leaving no trace of who received

03:18them. A purpose that's negated completely if the receiver had to call a phone number that could

03:22potentially be traced back to them. On the other hand, the marketing and number collection theories

03:27don't hold much weight either. There are far more effective ways to achieve both goals without

03:31depending on an unlikely chance of the number spreading through word of mouth and attracting

03:36calls from curious people. Ultimately, despite many attempts at uncovering the truth, 1-800-Golf-Tip

03:42remained a mystery for nearly three decades. That is, until a Reddit user took it upon himself to get to

03:47the bottom of it. He spent over four years combing through the available leads and gathering personal

03:53anecdotes from people who remembered calling this number in their childhood. And as it turns out,

03:58the 1-800-Golf-Tip rabbit hole wasn't a viral hoax or a disturbing conspiracy. Instead, it was the

04:03result of a simple mistake. You see, back in 1994, the Professional Golfers Association, or PGA, was

04:10touring across North America. And in an effort to promote the sport, they set up billboards and purchased

04:16ad space in newspapers, listing their golf tip line, 1-800-Golf-Tip. However, this line was only meant to be

04:22active for two days, as evident from this 1994 ad in the Tampa Tribune which reads,

04:28Golfers nationwide can receive golf tips today and Sunday via a toll-free instruction hotline presented

04:33by the PGA of America and USA Today. The hotline, featuring nearly 100 PGA members, is being offered

04:40in conjunction for the Tommy Armour PGA Teaching and Coaching Summit in New Orleans. Call 800-Golf-Tip.

04:47Following the campaign, billboards in low-traffic areas that never received the new ad ended up staying

04:52far longer than intended. However, by then, the tip line was replaced by a placeholder test message

04:58from the phone company. As for the disturbing siren sound at the end, it was just one of the

05:03many pre-recorded tones phone companies used to signal that the call hadn't reached its intended

05:07destination. In the end, 1-800-Golf-Tip wasn't a covert spy line or a clever marketing ploy. It was

05:13simply the byproduct of a phone company forgetting to disconnect a test number. And while the truth isn't

05:19as thrilling as some might have hoped, it brought closure to those who spent nearly 30 years chasing

05:23the mystery. User 927. On August 4th, 2006, AOL, which was an early search engine like Google,

05:35released a text file on its website containing 20 million search queries from its users. These queries

05:41were collected from over 650,000 users and spanned a period of about three months. Whether this release

05:47was intentional or simply a private file mistakenly made public remains unclear. The users' actual

05:53names were replaced with anonymous filler numbers starting at 1, so like user 34 or user 152,

06:00but based solely on each user's searches, you could usually still find out a lot about them.

06:05The company did apologize and remove the file three days later, but it was already too late.

06:10Thousands of people had already copied the file and began combing through it out of curiosity.

06:14And while most of the searches were exactly what you'd expect, like users looking for restaurant

06:20recommendations, planning vacations, or searching for medical symptoms, user 927's search history

06:26stood out from the rest for just how shockingly disturbing it was. It started off quite normal,

06:32with user 927 looking up songs from various artists. There were also some medical queries,

06:37such as the time it takes for a broken leg to heal and fungal infections, as well as numerous

06:43searches on different types of flowers. But, it didn't take long for user 927's searches to shift

06:49into the realm of deeply inappropriate and not safe for work. Now, due to the explicit nature of these

06:55searches, I can't share them on YouTube, but just note that many of them were deeply unsettling and

07:00painted a troubling picture of the user behind them. However, this was only the beginning.

07:05As the weeks went on, user 927's searches grew darker, more specific, and far more disturbing.

07:12It went from looking up questionable stuff, to searching for straight up illegal and harmful

07:17material. The unsettling nature of user 927's search history sparked widespread discussion and

07:23concern across the internet. Even inspiring an off-Broadway play, which delved into themes of

07:28cyber-stalking, privacy, and the implications of our digital footprints. Despite their infamy,

07:33however, user 927 was never identified. All we know is that they were likely from Colorado,

07:39based on a single search from the state's official government website. It's also likely that these

07:44searches were made on a shared family computer, since they often flip-flopped between wholesome

07:49searches and illegal not-safe-for-work searches. Apart from that, the identity of user 927 remains a

07:56mystery to this day. Google Translate Anomalies

08:02Near the end of 2017, a few users on 4chan noticed a bizarre phenomenon with Google Translate,

08:09where typing in incoherent and broken strings of characters led to eerily normal-sounding

08:14responses. For instance, typing the letter O and P repeatedly resulted in Google Translate telling the

08:20user to click on the image to view more. Similarly, using P and S instead produced something that

08:26resembled a snippet from an email. Now, it would have been easy to write it off as a coincidence,

08:31just random characters accidentally forming something familiar, but as more people tested it,

08:36the more weirdly consistent the outputs became. Like the Translate app telling the user to go ahead

08:40and ask any questions they might have. Or, in some instances, telling them that they have a chronic

08:46disease, a tendency to be infected with the virus, and that they will have a lot of pain.

08:51How could a nonsensical mix of characters produce such specific and sometimes threatening translations?

08:57At this point, the most reasonable explanation was that this was simply a glitch, perhaps an obscure

09:02bug in Google's Translate system. After all, most of these eerie translations occurred specifically

09:07when converting between Somali and English, suggesting a potential flaw in how the algorithm

09:12handled that language pair. But, what made this seem unlikely was the amount of unique information

09:17Google Translate was showing in response to these requests, including things like a link to a Facebook

09:22post, or what appeared to be an email address. In a similar vein, a few specific combinations also

09:28provided results that read like a private conversation between two people, stating things like,

09:33You will be given the opportunity to be re-elected, and

09:37This is a great way for you to come to our country. So, what is going on here?

09:43Unfortunately, despite the online interest, Google never acknowledged the problem, so we can only

09:47speculate. And, while I did come across some wild theories suggesting that Google Translate was

09:52somehow a sentient AI trying to communicate outside of its intended purpose, these theories are of course

09:58not true. One possible theory is that this was the work of a rogue Google employee, someone who out of

10:04frustration or boredom decided to tamper with the system. Maybe they were trying to degrade the app's

10:08quality out of spite, or perhaps they simply wanted to leave behind the hidden easter egg for

10:13others to discover. However, someone risking their lucrative career at Google for something this

10:18uneventful and niche is fairly hard to justify. From everything I've seen, the most plausible

10:23explanation is still the one mentioned earlier, that all of this was just a glitch or an overlooked bug

10:28in the system. As for the oddly specific bits of information, those could have come from any number of

10:34internal sources. Consider this, massive platforms like Gmail, Google Drive, and Search process billions

10:40of data points every day. So, it's not hard to imagine a coding error causing Google Translate to

10:46inadvertently pull fragments from those interconnected services. Which, if true, would be a real security

10:52and privacy thread. That said, I tried replicating the troubling prompts myself and came up empty.

10:57Whatever was causing the bizarre outputs seems to have been quietly patched out by Google since the

11:02story first broke out. Ted the Caver

11:08On March 23, 2001, a man named Ted began sharing his caving experience in an online journal.

11:15The story started a few months earlier in December 30, 2000, when Ted and his friend B were exploring a

11:21cave they thought they knew well. But, on this particular trip, they found something unexpected.

11:26A small hole on a wall near the cave's lowest point.

11:29As Ted kneeled down to get a closer look inside, he felt a faint breeze coming from the hole,

11:34suggesting there might be an entire unexplored cave system lying just beyond the narrow opening.

11:39The excitement of being the first people to explore this new section of the cave outweighed

11:43the inherent danger of venturing into the unknown. After surveying the area, Ted and B decided to widen

11:48the hole and carve out a passable corridor. About a month later, on the 27th of January, they began to

11:54chisel at the rock. But something felt strange. The two felt a suspiciously strong wind coming from the

12:01hole, followed by low, ominous rumbling from deep within the cave. They tried to rationalize these

12:07occurrences, thinking that the wind was just blowing a little stronger outside, and that the rumbling

12:11noise was coming from the trucks driving on the mountain road above the cave. So, despite the noise

12:16growing louder and more frequent, they pressed on. A decision they'd come to regret, as the sense of

12:21unease kept getting worse, fueled by a series of increasingly disturbing occurrences, like their

12:27dog becoming agitated as soon as it reached the cave and refused to go anywhere near the hole,

12:32or the two hearing what Ted described as the most terrible scream he has ever heard from the hole,

12:37lasting nearly 10 seconds. Once the hole was big enough, Ted crawled through to the other side,

12:42only to be met by a massive, unnaturally round boulder sitting in the center of a small chamber.

12:48There were also hieroglyph-like drawings on the walls, depicting people standing around a strange

12:53symbol. He took photos on his disposable Polaroid camera and came back. But when he tried to develop

12:59those pictures later that day, every photo he took of the round rock and its surroundings came

13:03out completely blank. They then tried recruiting another experienced caver, Joe, hoping a fresh

13:08perspective might help. However, Joe returned minutes after he went in, visibly shaken by the experience.

13:14He refused to speak about what he saw on the other side, and just stated that he would never enter

13:19that hole again. Left with no other choice, Ted decided to explore the new area himself.

13:24But as soon as he reached the other side, he began hearing the rock scraping sound again.

13:29He panicked and ran for the exit, only to see the round rock in a different position than it

13:33originally was. As he crawled through the hole, a nauseating stench began to fill the cave.

13:39Then, just as he and Bea reached the entrance, something tugged on their rope. In a panic,

13:43B slashed it with his knife, sending whatever was climbing up crashing back into the darkness.

13:48Yet, their story doesn't end there. In his May 19th, 2001 update, Ted talked about their plans to go

13:55back fully equipped, to solve the mystery and capture definitive proof of the insides with photos

13:59and video footage. However, the updates never came, leaving readers to wonder what happened to Ted and

14:06Bea. Now, I should mention that back then, many online communities were skeptical about the

14:11authenticity of this story and internet rabbit hole. However, the irregular updates and accompanying

14:16photos were convincing enough to make many believe the story was real. But, the story was completely

14:21fake. Back then, internet creepypastas, or fake horror stories presented as true, weren't really a

14:27thing, or at least weren't very common. Many people had no reason not to believe this story.

14:33Nowadays, the Ted the Caber story is often referred to as the internet's first creepypasta.

14:38In 2004, he joined a discussion about his story on a forum site and admitted he made it up.

14:43Apparently, they did explore the cave and actually took the pictures he posted on his journal.

14:47But, everything about the round boulder, the drawings on the wall, and the chase at the end

14:52was completely fictional. However, none of this detracted from its position as the story that

14:57introduced the internet to creepypastas, a genre that's prevalent to this day.

15:01The Glitter Conspiracy

15:06On the 21st of December 2018, New York Times posted an article titled,

15:12What is Glitter? This was supposed to be nothing more than an educational article on what glitter

15:16is and where it's used in our day-to-day lives. However, what its author didn't realize at the time

15:21was that this would ignite one of the most heavily debated rabbit holes in internet history.

15:25It started with an odd conversation between the article's writer and a manager from Glitter-X,

15:30which is one of the largest glitter manufacturers in the US.

15:34When I asked Ms. Dyer if she could tell me which industry served as Glitter-X's biggest market,

15:38her answer was instant.

15:40No, I absolutely know I can't.

15:42I was taken aback.

15:43But you know what it is?

15:45Oh, God, yes.

15:46She said and laughed.

15:48You would never guess it. Let's just leave it at that.

15:51I asked if she could tell me why she couldn't tell me.

15:53Because they don't want you to know that it's glitter.

15:56If I looked at it, I wouldn't know it was glitter?

15:59No, not really.

16:00Would I be able to see the glitter?

16:02Oh, you'd be able to see something.

16:04But it's... yeah, I can.

16:06The writer then asked if she could tell the buyer's name off record, but she refused completely.

16:11Not long after the article went live, someone posted their strange conversation on the Unresolved

16:16Mysteries subreddit, sparking a wave of speculation about who this mysterious client could be.

16:21One of the top comments under this post pointed towards a potential use by law enforcement

16:25as an ID for explosives, reading,

16:28Microtagons.

16:30Multilayered microglitter added to all commercial explosives.

16:34Simple to batch trace on site after the detonation using only a microscope.

16:39Use dynamite for illegal purposes and leave evidence as clear as a fingerprint.

16:43Law enforcement probably don't want this fact circulating.

16:46And while this made some logical sense, others leaned toward crazier, conspiracy-adjacent theories.

16:53Like this one user claimed that the government spreads glitter on beaches to increase their

16:56sparkle and by extension attract more tourists.

17:00A few people also suggested that the mystery buyer could be the US military, since glitter's

17:04reflective properties might make it useful for camouflaging equipment by deflecting radar

17:08signals.

17:09One user proposed a more unsettling theory, that GlitterX's biggest client could be a toothpaste

17:15company, using glitter to create the illusion of sparkling clean teeth.

17:19While the idea sounds absurd at first, it's not entirely out of the realm of possibility

17:23given how common microplastics are in personal care products.

17:27However, none of these theories hold much merit.

17:30Microplastics and personal care products, including toothpastes, were banned back in July 2017,

17:35over a year before the New York Times interview.

17:37The military contract theory is also completely detached from the truth.

17:41In reality, the radar-absorbing coating used for fighter jets is made from iron and ferrite,

17:46not shiny plastics.

17:48So, while these theories were fascinating to sift through, none of them actually answered

17:52the one question that started at all.

17:54Who was buying all the glitter?

17:56This remained a mystery for almost an entire year before someone managed to uncover the truth.

18:01On the 8th of November 2019, the Endless Thread podcast dropped an episode titled

18:06The Great Glitter Mystery, and this had the answer people were looking for.

18:11Apparently, the answer was boat manufacturers.

18:14This might sound odd at first, but it actually makes a lot of sense when you consider the

18:18shimmering, reflective paint used on many newer boats.

18:21As for why Glitterex might be so secretive about the identity of their biggest client,

18:26one plausible reason could be environmental concerns.

18:29Glitter, especially the traditional kind made from microplastics,

18:32has been heavily criticized for its contribution to pollution,

18:35particularly in oceans where it can be harmful to marine life.

18:39So, if it came out that companies were using it in boat paint and releasing untold amounts

18:43of microplastics into the ocean, it could spark public backlash or calls for regulation.

18:48In the end, the truth behind the Glitter conspiracy was a lot more mundane than secret military

18:53contracts or explosive detection, leaving many to express their disappointment online.

18:57Polybius is the name of a rumored arcade game that had a limited release in 1981 and has

19:08since been lost to time.

19:10As the story goes, a single cabinet of the game was installed in a random arcade in Portland,

19:15Oregon in 1981.

19:16The cabinet was playing without any fancy graphics on the sides, and the gameplay was described

19:21as weird and puzzle-like with action elements.

19:24This gameplay is also rumored to be surprisingly addictive.

19:28There are reports of teens spending hours playing this game, to the point of getting dizzy

19:32and even fainting.

19:34However, there were also several claims suggesting that the dizziness and fainting were actually

19:38side effects of government-led mind-control experiments conducted through the game.

19:43You see, according to the myth, men dressed in black suits would regularly visit the arcade,

19:47not to play Polybius, but to collect data from the machine, like on behalf of the CIA

19:52or some other three-letter agency.

19:55The cabinet also reportedly remained in arcades for only a brief period before mysteriously

19:59disappearing without a trace.

20:01This mix of addictive gameplay, side effects like amnesia and nightmares, combined with the

20:06alleged men-in-black sightings, cemented Polybius in urban legend history.

20:10But here's the thing, there's no concrete proof the game ever actually existed.

20:15No official records, no contemporary newspaper articles, nothing verifiable from 1981 mentions

20:21it.

20:23The only quote, real evidence of its existence is this screenshot of the title screen, which

20:27looks a bit too advanced for its era, and this grainy black-and-white picture of an

20:31allegedly real Polybius cabinet.

20:34The high noise, overblown exposure, and overall low resolution makes it near impossible to extract

20:39any details.

20:40However, given the overall shape of the cabinet, this was likely a repurposed Namco cabinet

20:45with its stickers removed.

20:46And even if these images are real, there are no sources dating back to the 1980s that could

20:51verify their authenticity.

20:53In fact, from what I was able to find, one of the earliest mentions of Polybius in any

20:57gaming magazine or website was in the year 2000, on a website called coinop.org.

21:02The legend did become widespread enough to inspire enthusiasts into building their own real-life

21:06Polybius arcade cabinets.

21:08However, I wasn't able to find a single piece of evidence matching its original description.

21:12So, where did the story come from?

21:15It's likely a fascinating case of collective memory-blending fact and fiction.

21:20As a comment on Reddit noted,

21:22Polybius wasn't real, but it was inspired by stories of surreal 80s vector games, people

21:27playing arcade games for too long and getting sick, and teens doing shady things that resulted

21:31in authorities coming into arcades.

21:34Think of it this way, the early 80s saw visually intense vector graphic games like Tempest,

21:38which could be quite disorienting, especially in a dimly lit, smoke-filled arcade.

21:42Arcades were also rowdy places where teenagers pushed boundaries, sometimes prompting authorities

21:47to monitor them for reasons like truancy or gambling.

21:51It's plausible that these separate, real occurrences, getting eye-strained from a vector

21:55game, feeling ill after a marathon session, seeing officials in an arcade, morphed and

22:00merged over time into the singular, terrifying narrative of Polybius.

22:03Or, it's also possible that the Polybius myth was the masterwork of a single, imaginative

22:08individual, someone who managed to craft one of the most talked-about rabbit holes in

22:12the history of internet gaming folklore.

22:14The Box of Crazy

22:20On November 4th, 2013, reddit user TramStopDan posted an Imgur album on the What's In This

22:27Thing subreddit, titled,

22:28Large Box Full of Odd Illustrations of an Event, aka The Box of Crazy, Found by the Trash Bins.

22:36On the surface, this looked like nothing more than an antique wooden briefcase.

22:39However, its contents told a completely different story.

22:42Inside, there were hundreds of documents containing text records of alleged UFO sightings, diagrams

22:49and schematics for complex, otherworldly machinery, and hand-drawn illustrations of disturbing, demonic

22:55creatures.

22:56The box also contained a lot of handwritten notes from the creator of all these illustrations,

23:01Daniel Christensen, as well as several maps and globe projections.

23:05Much of it was cryptic and difficult to decipher.

23:08However, even after reviewing just a small portion, it became clear that this was a very

23:12the work of someone who was deeply unwell.

23:15Some of his notes hinted at the possibility of him being a World War II veteran,

23:19which could explain the origin of his mental illness.

23:21However, that wasn't what started his fascination with aliens and extraterrestrial life forms.

23:26Some of the earliest documents in the box were from 1937, with some of the newest ones

23:31dating to 1977.

23:32In other words, Daniel remained fixated on this topic for over four decades.

23:37However, his earlier work was a lot tamer and more legible than whatever he came up with in

23:41his later years, hinting at his deteriorating mental health.

23:45As for the actual contents of this box, however, one particular topic stood out above the rest.

23:50His account of the incident that happened on July 7th, 1977.

23:54According to Daniel, Tampa Bay was hit by a tornado on that day.

23:58By it, that tornado was just to disguise alien ships used to make contact with Earth without

24:03getting spotted.

24:04He created several detailed illustrations of what he saw that day, and it's bizarre to say the least.

24:10In reality, there were no records of a tornado or any other extreme weather event happening

24:15in Tampa Bay on the 7th of July.

24:17That said, Daniel didn't choose this day at random.

24:20You see, a lot of Daniel's illustrations of the 7th of July include this same building

24:24as the center point for alien descent.

24:26This was the inverted pyramid on the St. Petersburg Pier in Tampa.

24:30Coincidentally, this building was also lit up with a massive laser light show installation

24:34on July 7th, 1977.

24:38So, it's highly likely that Daniel witnessed this laser show, misinterpreted it as an alien

24:43encounter, and then spiraled into an obsession to document what he genuinely believed was a

24:47life-changing event.

24:48And the craziest part is, this was only a fraction of the work he'd produced in his lifetime.

24:52This is because, as the story gained traction online, a Reddit user named That's My Box came

24:58forward, claiming that she was the previous owner of the wooden box Tram Stop Dan found.

25:03And, apparently, she was telling the truth.

25:05She moved into a new home in the 90s where she found a room full of Daniel's work.

25:09This included a chair-like machine he'd constructed, which, according to his notes, was the device

25:14he'd used for an out-of-body experience and time travel.

25:16Unfortunately, most of Daniel's stuff had to be thrown out, which is how Tram Stop Dan

25:21found the box.

25:22It really makes you wonder what other mind-bending contraptions, bizarre concepts, or odd events

25:27he might have noted down on paper during his lifetime.

25:34Eritas

25:34On November 5th, 2015, an anonymous user posted a thread on 4chan talking about a strange conversation

25:41they had with a girl at work.

25:43The girl he talked with was, at the time, homeless and in a band.

25:47She also worked for a really shady company that was in the process of closing down.

25:51One day, her supervisors gave her and another employee two tape guns and instructed them

25:55to pack boxes.

25:57However, the tape in one of these guns had the word Eritas written on it.

26:01When she inquired about this word, her co-worker told her to get rid of the tape gun and to

26:05not mention the word to any of the supervisors.

26:08Apparently, he used to work in IT, and one of his jobs was to flag employees who searched

26:12this term so they could be fired.

26:14The OP was curious about what Eritas meant.

26:17However, this was also the first time other 4chan users had encountered the word, so they

26:21couldn't offer much help in figuring out what it meant either.

26:23But then a month later, on December 19th, another anonymous user brought up Eritas again,

26:28hinting that it was some HR-related computer program.

26:31By this time, the OP received an answer, which defined Eritas as a program that allows

26:36some specific third-party company unconditional access to employee information.

26:41This reply also mentioned major brands like UPS, Unilever, and Ecolab.

26:46About one more month later, on January 25th, a user on the music board talked about wanting

26:50to make music from obscure YouTube videos.

26:53They also included a list of video links they were interested in.

26:56The second of these links led to a video titled,

26:59YouTube is Monitoring and Controlling My Life, that was posted just two days before the 4chan

27:03post.

27:04The owner of the channel that posted this video, Kronos for Life Jurassic Park, believed

27:08that he was being targeted by Eritas.

27:10This, along with a now-deleted Q&A video Kronos posted later, gave people a clearer picture

27:15of Eritas' true nature.

27:17Eritas, as many came to understand it, was a mass surveillance and censorship software

27:22allegedly used by powerful entities to securely monitor the public.

27:25What made Eritas so terrifyingly effective was its ability to erase its own existence.

27:30It would detect any time someone mentioned it across the internet and remove that reference

27:35without a trace.

27:36Kronos even posted a video titled, Here Goes Nothing, as bait for Eritas, hoping the advanced

27:41algorithm would target and delete the video, thereby proving it was real.

27:44But that wasn't all.

27:46Turning on captions revealed that the video also had hidden messages at several points

27:50throughout its runtime.

27:51Decoding these messages led to a fake address that was listed on the profile of a band called

27:56KFC Murder Chicks.

27:58This band featured homeless girls, and surprisingly, one of them reportedly worked in a warehouse,

28:03just like the mysterious girl who told the first 4chan user about Eritas.

28:07Looking further into this band revealed a YouTube upload of one of their songs which

28:11had the word Eritas in its description as well.

28:13The channel that uploaded this video, Todd Ellsworth, also had a relatively empty Twitter

28:17account with the word.

28:19The only noteworthy post on this account was this creepy, elongated portrait of a man.

28:23By this point, many people who were following the mystery assumed that Todd and the KFC Chicks

28:28band had something to do with Eritas.

28:30Or at least they knew something about this advanced algorithm that no one else did.

28:34But when asked about it, they denied having any knowledge about the term.

28:38Unfortunately, that's where the lead stopped.

28:40Users had so much information and connection points between various groups and people,

28:44but it led to nowhere.

28:45This left Eritas as just another unsolved mystery of the internet.

28:49That is, until August 2020, when a YouTuber called Toxicologist managed to get an

28:53interview with a person named DJ Roswell.

28:56As it turned out, Roswell was behind everything from the very beginning.

29:00He was the leader of the KFC Murder Chicks band and wanted to promote his band with an ARG.

29:05So, he was the one who created the lore surrounding Eritas and every puzzle piece

29:08connecting to it.

29:10As for this unsettling image, this turned out to just be a police sketch of a horrible criminal

29:14from Hawaii that had nothing to do with the band or the ARG.

29:17Roswell just used this picture because it was attention grabbing.

29:20Unfortunately for Roswell, people weren't able to progress through the storyline fast enough

29:24and many lost interest over time, giving a tragically mundane ending to the mystery of

29:29Eritas.

29:34Alan Tutorial

29:35In June 2011, a YouTube channel called Alan Tutorial uploaded its first video called

29:41How to Leak on a Piece of Paper.

29:43This 1 minute and 15 second video didn't make any logical sense and was just a jumbled mess

29:48of random actions.

29:50You rip off a piece of paper and you're going to put the paper on the floor.

29:56Next thing you do is you've got to take the fork and you're going to have to

30:00random hole inside.

30:02The channel began producing videos of obscure tutorials like teaching users how to make a

30:07windmill from household items or how to fill a tiny bin with dirt.

30:12However, as time went on, users began to notice the mental health of the creator,

30:15Alan, begin to deteriorate.

30:17He went from gleefully explaining some illogical concepts to crying during tutorials and getting

30:23accidentally hurt while trying to make the video.

30:25This marked a shifting point in the channel where it went from silly to often downright

30:29disturbing.

30:30And no video encapsulates this better than the one titled Disc Tutorial.

30:35It shows the host, Alan, getting kidnapped in a truck and slipping over his own blood all

30:40while trying to make his usual tutorial.

30:41Even in captivity, Alan continued creating content with whatever he had access to, at one point

30:47even resorting to reading the news on camera just to stay connected with his audience.

30:51All of this, of course, turned out to be nothing more than a fictional storyline created by

30:55an art student, Alan Resnick.

30:57And while many of his longtime viewers understood this, newer viewers stumbling across his uploads

31:01out of context, often couldn't make sense of what they were watching.

31:05With a concerned comment under the Disc Tutorial video reading,

31:08Either this guy is a brilliant actor slash art student, or something weird is happening and none of us

31:14suspect anything because we all think he's a brilliant actor slash art student.

31:18I'm starting to have my doubts.

31:20All of this came to an end in December of 2014, when Alan posted his final video simply titled

31:25Tutorial, a nearly two-minute upload in which Alan finds a way to bust through a wall and escape

31:30his captor, never to be seen again.

31:33Ever since this conclusion, fans have gone back and analyzed each video to find the hidden meaning

31:37and bits of lore.

31:38According to the most popular interpretation, the character Alan Resnick created suffers from

31:43autism and was living with his older brother and his girlfriend who didn't like him.

31:47This explains why he ends up homeless at one point as his uncaring family kicks him out.

31:51Some users have also speculated that the reason he's crying in the blue chair tutorial video

31:55is because it reminds him of the way he found his mother after her death.

31:59This theory is supported by the video's description which reads,

32:03If your chair is on the floor, here is how you get it back and pick up all the pieces of something

32:07broken and unfair.

32:08However, creator Alan Resnick has never confirmed or denied any of these theories,

32:13choosing to leave his years-long art project open for interpretation instead.

32:16This House Has People In It

32:22This House Has People In It is an analog horror short film that was aired on Adult Swim back

32:27in March 2016.

32:29The short is often known for just how weird and disturbing its concept is.

32:34It was directed by Alan Resnick, the creator and actor of the Alan Tutorial channel we just

32:38discussed.

32:39Though, unlike Alan Tutorial, which started off a bit lighthearted and slowly descended into

32:43absolute madness, this house has people and it wastes no time pulling viewers into its

32:47surreal, unsettling world.

32:49It starts with the footage of someone logging into a computer and choosing a specific video

32:53to play.

32:54The footage then cuts to the CCTV feed from a house with nine cameras, and then cuts again

32:59to the main couple, Tom and Anne, arguing about where to go for vacation.

33:02And immediately something is extremely wrong with the situation as we see a person lying

33:12on the kitchen floor while the couple ignores them completely.

33:15From there, we also see a repairman working in the basement and the son, Jackson, watching

33:19TV in the living room that is decorated for his birthday.

33:22We also learn that the person lying on the kitchen floor is Tom and Anne's teenage daughter,

33:26Madison.

33:27She had a fight with Anne two hours ago and has been lying there in anger ever since.

33:31After a few minutes, Tom tries to pick Madison up, only to make a disturbing discovery.

33:37It is time!

33:44What?

33:47Prime links.

33:48That is disgusting.

33:53Madison appears to be completely stuck on the floor.

33:57The situation then goes from bad to horrific as Madison starts sinking through the kitchen

34:01floor.

34:02The repairman tries to help by putting a plank on Madison's face to stop her from sinking

34:06through.

34:07However, that does not work, resulting in Tom having a complete meltdown in the basement.

34:12I'm ready for it.

34:12Are you?

34:13I'm ready for anything!

34:17Beautiful.

34:18You've always been so beautiful.

34:20We need to stop right now!

34:21I praise you!

34:22I serve you!

34:23Left with no other option, they make a final ditch effort to save their daughter by placing

34:27a mattress underneath her.

34:29We eventually see Madison fall onto the mattress, which then immediately cuts to a shot of the

34:34mattress without her, implying that she fell through the basement floor as well.

34:38The short ends with the guests who gathered for Jackson's birthday lying down in the yard

34:42just like Madison, while Tom and Anne are freaking out inside.

34:45The short seems to carry a major theme of neglect that's prevalent throughout.

34:57For instance, we see Madison lie on the kitchen floor for two hours before Tom and Anne talk

35:02directly to her.

35:04Jackson is completely neglected by his parents, the baby doesn't have food in her bowl, and

35:08when Tom hands the baby to Grandma, she immediately sets it down, which ultimately results in her

35:12crawling out of the house.

35:13As a comment on YouTube puts it,

35:16However, this was just the tip of the iceberg.

35:27You see, this short was released with a now-defunct website called absurveillance-solutions.com.

35:32Visiting this site unlocked a fully functional ARG, which in turn unlocked hours of additional

35:37footage, dozens of images, and even chat logs between the family.

35:41Viewers also uncovered additional plot points hidden within the extended media, including

35:45one about a mysterious disease slowly spreading throughout the world of the film.

35:49It's so extensive that even nine years after its release, fans still aren't sure if they've

35:54uncovered everything hidden within it.

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